By Gwynneth Redemann
SACRAMENTO, CA – Shannon Glass, charged with the sexual assault and rape of two intoxicated, sleeping women said to be longtime friends, will stand trial after a preliminary hearing here Tuesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The assaults took place on two separate occasions, each time in the victims’ homes.
The first incident took place on Jan. 2, when one of the victims invited Glass to a New Year’s gathering at her residence. Glass, along with other family friends, including the second victim in this case, drank Don Julio tequila and Hennessy as they celebrated the start of the new year.
According to Det. Tamer Sabra with the Sacramento Police Department, the first victim recalled going to her room at around 10:30 p.m. to “pass out,” after drinking five shots of Don Julio. Between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m., the victim said she woke multiple times to Glass sexually assaulting her.
The victim stated to Det. Sabra that when she found Glass assaulting her she stated “get off…what are you doing?”
When the first victim confronted Glass about the events of the previous night, Glass denied everything. After explaining that her eight-year-old son had seen Glass in her room, Glass allegedly conceded, stating, “Ya, I mean like for a second maybe we had sex” and “I can’t believe you let me have sex with you.”
Despite both victims being longtime friends of Glass, neither had ever engaged in a romantic relationship or any form of flirtation with Glass over the years, said the prosecution.
The only physical exchange the victims had with Glass was the occasional hug which the first victim had described as always being “uncomfortably long.”
On March 10, according to police accounts, Glass was at the residence of the second victim sharing a bottle of Hennessy between the two of them. At around 2 a.m. the second victim went to her room where she fell asleep naked in her bed. Glass stayed in the living room, while the second victim’s boyfriend slept in a different room inside the residence.
The second victim said she recalled Glass leaving in the morning after saying goodbye to her. When she woke up that morning she said she “felt like [she] had had sex.”
Her boyfriend then watched one of the many surveillance cameras that were placed around the residence. The surveillance footage from the bedroom where the second victim slept, revealed Glass entering the room on five to six different occasions and sexually assaulting the victim.
The footage shows Glass entering the room multiple times, each time lifting the blanket that was covering the body of the second victim.
On two particular occasions, Glass looks to be taking pictures of the woman’s various body parts, as a flash goes off multiple times in the footage. After each time Glass entered the room, he would leave at any sudden movement of the victim.
Like the first woman, the second also confronted Glass about the assault and said Glass denied all allegations made, despite the video evidence from the night.
After the second victim stated that she was going to the police, she said Glass “begged her not to,” and eventually blocked her number when she insisted.
During the cross-examination of Det. Sabra, Defense Attorney Jonathan R Gonzales asked the detective whether the victims “freely allowed Glass into their residences,” and whether they had told Glass specifically that he could not enter their bedrooms.
Gonzales stated that there was perhaps a sense of “free rein” within the residences, which potentially included in the bedrooms of the victims; however, both women stated that there was a clear understanding between the defendant and themselves that he was not allowed inside their rooms.
Gonzales also speculated about the level of intoxication of the first victim, after it was noted her 10-month-old baby was in a crib beside her bed on the night of the assault.
Gonzales asked Det. Sabra, “So the first victim was drinking and apparently too intoxicated to understand what was going on that night, but she was still able to care for her 10-month-old child that night?”
Gonzales concluded the cross-examination of Det. Sabra by questioning whether the surveillance video in the case of the second victim actually showed evidence of rape.
Det. Sabra explained that there was a blanket obstructing the view of the assault, but that it was fairly certain based on the movement of Glass’ body what was occurring.
Based on the evidence presented in the hearing by Deputy District Attorney Scott Alan Schweibish, Judge Donald J Currier agreed that there was sufficient evidence to go to trial, now set for Oct 4.
